Underwater suction gun for trapping marine life



D. L. sENNE May 25, 1 965 UNDERWATER SUCTION GUN FOR TRAPPING MARINE LIFE mvENToR ,bm/A0 lau/s SEN/vf 3% "7 'a5 f o YTr/PNEK Nm, mm

Hsrull.

May 25, 1965 D. L. sENNE 3,184,878

UNDERWATER sUcTIoN GUN Fon TRAPPING MARINE LIFE Filed June 27, 1965 5 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR. Afy/D Jaa/5 62mm/5 May 25, 1965 A. D. L. sENNE 3,184,878

UNDERWATER SUCTION GUN FOR TRAPPING MARINE LIFE Filed June 27, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 1//0 Lau/.S 52W/v5 BZMW ` rfcD/ewf y United Stats This invention relates to underwater suction guns which are used for trapping iish by skin or scuba divers.

More particularly, this invention relates to an underwater suction gun having a plurality of chambers and means for operating such guns by first positioning the piston of the gun into a cocked position and then triggering said piston when the gun is placed close enough to the fish to be caught with this gun so that the fish is sucked into the chamber when the piston is released by pulling the trigger. A rubber tube pulls the piston to create a strong water current thus sucking the iish into the gun and the chamber. It is called a gun for lack of a better term because, like a regular gun, it has a front barrel, a cylinder, a trigger, etc., and creates a sudden flow of the fluid upon release of the trigger. Another term, which is not any better than gunj would be a suction pump. In industry, devices of this kind are called and known as slurp guns.

It is an object of this invention to provide a suction gun having a front barrel, a cylinder, a rotatable multisector wheel in the cylinder subdividing the wheel into a plurality of rotatable chambers, and means for creating a strong suction current through the barrel and the chamber aligned with the barrel.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a gun of the above type which has the suction tube, or the front barrel, at the front portion of the gun, an indexable multi-chamber barrel at the mid-portion of a gun and the piston and cylinder pump at the opposite end of the gun for creating suction with the aid of said pump.

Additional objects and novel features of this invention will be understood more readily from a more detailed description of this invention, in connection with the drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal sect-ional view of the first version of the gun;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse section of the gun taken in transverse plane indicated by line 2 2 in FIG. 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View of the rear portion of the gun, the section being indicated by arrows 3 3 illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the rubber tube and means for connecting the rubber tube to the gun;

FIGURES 5, 6, 7 and 8 are transverse sections of the gun of FIG. 1 taken in the planes 5 5, 6 6, 7 7 and 8 3 indicated in FIG. l;

FIGURE 9 is a side View, partly in section, of the second version of the gun with the piston in a retracted position;

FIGURE 10 is a side view, partly in section, of the gun of FIG. 9 with the piston being shown in the cocked position and ready to be released for obtaining the operation ofthe gun;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of the multi-vane member used in the gun illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 1G;

FIGURE 12 is an overall view of the gun and of the diver holding the gun in his right arm. "ma

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, the gun includes a front barrel, or tube, 1t) and a front disc 11, the two elements constituting one molded piece provided with brackets 12 and 13 which are used for connecting a front disc 11 and tube 10 to a ring 14. Ring 14 is made from a clear plastic pipe or tube. A piece of this tube, of the length indicated in FIG. 1, is cut off from the tube and it is then provided with a cutout lat 8, FIG. 1, which is used for manually turning a wheel 36 in the manner described later. Ring 14 is also provided with the hinge members 15 and 16 described later.` Ring 14 is cemented to a head 32 of a pump cylinder 31 and therefore, in this manner, becomes an integral part of, and the forward extension of, the pump cylinder 31 beyond the cylinder head 32. Ring 14 is provided for this purpose with clevises 15 and 16, and pins 17 and 18, pins 17 and 18 being used for interconnecting the brackets with their respective clevises. The front view of the gun and disc 11, taken in the direction of lines 6 6, is illustrated in FIG. 6. Disc 11 is provided with a flap valve 20 which is provided with a plurality of sectors 22, 23, 24, 25 and Z6 illustrated in FIG. 6. Flap valve 20 is held in a iixed position in flange 11 at the inner end of tube 1li by means of an expansion ring 2S which holds it in a fixed position with respect to iiange 11 and the inner end of tube 1t).

The central chamber 9 of the gun includes ring 14. It is closed at the front end by disc 11 and valve 2t). Ring 14 is closed at the rear end by a pump 30, and in particular, by a head 32 of a pump cylinder 31. The head 32 rand ring 14 are cemented together so that ring 14 becomes a part of and the outward extension of the pump cylinder 31. The cylinder head 32 is provided with an opening 34, FIG. 8, which connects a chamber 35, aligned with barrel 16 and opening 34, to pump 30. In this manner only one chamber at a time is connected to the pump.

A multi-vane wheel 36, FIG. 5, having six vanes` 37-42, an outer circumferential band 43, a central hub 44 with a central opening 45 and cone-shaped pivots 46 and 47, is rotatively mounted in concentric relationship within barrel 14. Pivot 46 engages a cone-shaped seat 48 in disc 11 and pivot 47 engages a cone-shaped seat 5 in the piston head 32 so that the entire wheel 36 can be rotated with the seats 48 and 5 providing the bearing surfaces. The outer circumferential band 43 is provided with six indexing detents 49-54 which are used for turning the multi-vane wheel within barrel 14 so as to align one chamber at a time in line with tube 1t) and opening 34 in the piston head 32, and in this manner connecting tube 16 to one of the six chambers with pump 30. The multi-vane wheel 36 is turned by hand by engaging one of the chamber indexing detents 49-54 through an opening 56 in ring 14 located at the lower rear portion of the ring as illustrated in FIGS. l and 5.

The central member of the gun, therefore, includes ring 14 and a multi-Vane, multi-chamber wheel 36 rotatively mounted within ring 14. Only one chamber at a time of the six chambers 58-63 is aligned with tube 1d and opening 34 in disc 32 for use as a chamber for trapping any desired marine life which is sufficiently small so as to pass through barrel 10.

That portion of the multi-vane wheel which is directly adjacent to disc 32 is provided with a screen 65. Therefore, the central multi-chamber member 36 includes the following elements: outer circumferential band 43, six vanes 37-42, a hub member 44 and screen 65.

Pump 30 has the following elements: cylinder 31, cylinder head 32, a piston 66, a rubber disc 67, rubber cord 68, a rod 7S for connecting the inner end of rubber cord 63 to the piston head by means of a stud 79 and the outer end of cOrd 68 to a bridge member 73 which includes guide members 71 and '72 and a yoke 73. Yoke 73 interconnects the guide members 71 and 72. The outer end of the rubber cord 68 is connected to the yoke member 73 by means of a rod 74, FIG. 4, terminating in a ball 75. Ball 75 is inserted into the rubber cord 68 and a metallic ring 76 is then swedged over the rod 74 in the manner indicated in FIG. 4. The threaded portion of rod 74 is then used for passing it through a cross member '77, FIG. 3, which rests on yoke 73. Stud 79 is provided with a beveled ange S used for engaging a triggering mechanism which includes a trigger latch S1 operated by means of a pivoted trigger 82. Trigger 82 is pivoted on a pin 84 mounted on a hand grip 03. The .triggering mechanism also includes a compression spring 85 which snaps trigger latch 81 into its outer position, illustrated in FIG. l, for engaging liange 80 in the manner shown in FIG. 1 when piston 66 is pulled to its inward position by means of a string 86 provided with a loop 87 at one end and a lug 88 connecting this string to stud 79;

The operation of the suction gun illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8 is as follows. Upon aligning one of the chambers 58-63 with tube 10 and opening 34 by manually rotating the multi-vane wheel in the manner described previously, piston 66 is pulled into its inner position in cylinder 31 by pulling on loop 87 of string 86 which passes through hub 44 in the manner illustrated in FIG. l. When piston 66 is moved into its inner position, the trigger latch 81 engages ilange 80 and holds piston 66 in its forward position while rubber cord 86 is stretched, and thus exerts a strong pull on piston 66 attempting to move piston 66 to its outward position, at which time the outer edge S9 of the piston skirt engages the projections 90 and 91 on the bridge member 73. The movement of the piston to this outward position is prevented by the trigger latch 81. When trigger 82 is pulled, it pulls the trigger latch 81 downwardly, as viewed in FIG. l, with the result that the trigger latch 81 slips from the engagement with ange 80 of stud 79, at which time piston 66 is moved very swiftly to its outward position by the rubber cord 68 until it strikes stops 90 and 91. A very strong suction is exerted by piston 66, with the result that water rushes into the front tube 10 and then from front tube 10 through valve 20 into the aligned chamber and through the screen 65 into cylinder 31 until the entire cylinder is lilled with water. This very strong water current and movement of water engulfs the specimen which is in the vicinity of the outer, open end of tube 10 and sucks it into the chamber through the now open valve 20, whereupon such specimen 92, illustrated in FIG. 9, becomes trapped in one of the chambers. The multi-chamber Wheel 36 is then turned one sector; the piston is pulled into the inner position by means of string 86, whereupon the gun is again ready for use with .the second chamber in line with the tube 10 and pump 30.

Fish is removed from the gun by removing disc 11 and barrel 10 as a unit from the outer ring 14.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate another version 0f the gun in which rod 900 with a handle 901 are used for stretching rubber cord 68 and for positioning piston 66 into its cocked inner position, illustrated in FIG. l0. The rubber cord 68 is attached to the inner end 902 of rod 900. When cord'68 is in its retracted position, piston 66 is in the outward position, illustrated in FIG. 9. The rubber cord 68 is still in a somewhat stretched condition even when piston 66 is in the outward position illustrated in FIG. 9. In this manner cord 68 is exerting a positive force on the piston throughout the entire length of its stroke. Rod 900 is provided with a cross bar 903 which normally rests in a notch 904 provided in the bridge member 73. When it is desired to place piston 66 into its inner position, rod 900 is turned 90 and then is pushed inwardly into cylinder-31 with the cross bar 903 passing through the slots 200 and 201, FIG. 2, in the bridge member 73. The rod 900 is then pushed into the .cylinder and against the head of the piston until the .trigger latch 81 latches against iiange 80 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 10. Rod 900 is then withdrawn out- -wardly into the positions illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 and `then again ,turned 9.0 until cross bar 903 slips into the notch 904. The gun is then ready for use in the manner described previously.

In the light of the description of FIGS. 9 and 10, it follows that the two guns are identical to each other except that in one instance rod 900 is used for positioning piston 66 into its inner position While in FIG. 1 rod 900 is eliminated altogether and string 86 is used for moving the piston into its inner position. The advantage of FIG. 1 resides in the fact thatit is lesscumbersome since the entire gun assembly is more compact when rod 900 is eliminated altogether.

FIG. l1 illustrates a scuba diver with the gun of the above type being held by the diver in his right hand ready for use for catching a small iish which is in front of tube 10 of the gun.

FIGS. 9 and l0 also differ from FIGS. l through 8 in that the multi-vane member 1100 includes eight vanes, such. as 1101, which are rotatably mounted in cylinder 926 and are rotated by means of a projecting shaft 922 which is rotatably mounted in disc 924 and disc 926 which close-oli the two ends of cylinder 920. Y

Fish, or other trapped aquatic life, is removed from the gun by removing the barrel and the front disc as a unit. This is accomplished by pulling .out the pins 17 and l0.

What I claim as new is:

1. A suction gun for trapping small aquatic life, said gun comprising a front barrel having` an open front end and a iiap valve at its inner end, a multi-chamber rotatable wheel having a plurality of kvanes subdividing said wheel into a plurality of chambers and having means for positioning one chamber at a time in line with said ilap valve and said barrel, and a pump connected to said wheel and having an opening in line with said barrel and said iiap valve, said pump having a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, an elastomeric member connected with its inner end to said piston and with its outer end to the outer end of said cylinder; means'for moving said piston into its inner position within saidcylinder andadjacent to said wheel, and a trigger mechanism for holding said piston in said inner position, said trigger mechanism having a trigger for releasing said trigger mechanism and said piston, whereupon said elastomeric member pulls said piston to its outward position in said cylinder for creating suction in said barrel, in the chamber aligned with said barrel and in that portion of the cylinder which is adjacent to said wheel, said suction inducing said aquatic life into the aligned chamber through said front barrel.

2. A suction gun comprising a barrel at one end of said gun, a pump at the other end of said gun, and a multichamber member interconnecting said barrel and said pump, said multichamber member having a plurality of chambers, and meansfor aligning one lof said chambers with'said barrel and said pump.

3. A suction gun comprising a barrel at one end of said gun, a pump at the other end 0f said gun, a ring interconnecting said pump and said-barrel and a multivane rotatable element mounted within said ring for subdividing said ring into a plurality of chambers.

4. A suction gun comprising a barrel having an open inner endV and aI iiap valve at the inner end, a storage chamber member connected tothe inner end of said barrel, a multi-sector member rotatably mounted in said storage chamber member, a pump connected to the other end of said chamber member, said. pump comprising a pump cylinder, a piston in said pump` cylinder, an elastomeric member connected to said piston, a handle and a hollow push rod connected to said elastomeric member with said elastomeric member passing through said hollow push rod and being connected to said handle, a trigger mechanism, said hollow push rod being used for moving said piston into a cocked position adjacent to said storage chamber cylinder `with the aid of said rod, and into engagement of said piston with said trigger mechanism, and for subsequent stretching of said elastomeric member upon moving of said rod with the aid of said handle to a cocked position outside of said pump cylinder, and a trigger in said trigger mechanism for releasing said piston from said cocked position.

5. A gun as defined in claim 4 which also includes a screen member in said storage chamber member, said .screen member being positioned in said chamber member adjacent to said pump and in alignment With said ap Valve, whereby said pump creates a suction current in said gun through said barrel, through the chamber aligned with said barrel and through that portion of said screen which is in line with said aligned chamber and into the cylinder of said pump.

6. A suction gun comprising a barrel at one end, a pump at the Other end, a storage chamber member interconnecting said barrel and said pump, means for subdividing said chamber member into a plurality of sectors, a piston included in said pump, a trigger mechanism at the inner end of said pump, and a string conj.nected to said piston for cocking said piston within said pump with the aid of said trigger mechanism, said string passing through the central portion of said means and said chamber for moving said piston into engagement with said trigger mechanism.

7. The gun as defined in claim 6 in which said pump includes a pump cylinder terminating in a support means at the outer end of said cylinder, and said piston has a piston head, and an elastomeric member interconnecting said support means and the head of said piston.

8. A suction gun comprising a front barrel, a storage chamber having a front side and a rear side, said front Cil side being connected to said barrel, a ap valve between said barrel and said chamber, a pump connected to the rear side of said chamber, said pump including a cylinder having an inner end and an outer end, a piston in said cylinder, a trigger mechanism adjacent to the rear side of said chamber and also adjacent to the inner end of said cylinder, said piston having iirst means for engaging said trigger mechanism and second means for moving said piston inwardly along the length of said cylinder and toward the inner end of said cylinder and into engagement with said trigger mechanism with the aid of said first means, an elastomeric member connected with one end to said piston, third means to hold the other end of said elastomeric member in xed relationship with respect to the outer end of said cylinder, whereby said elastomeric member is stretched when said irst means engages said trigger mechanism; and a trigger in said trigger mechanism for releasing said piston, whereby said piston is caused to travel outwardly along the length of said cylinder for creating suction currents through said barrel and said storage chamber for inducing an aquatic life into said chamber.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/56 Kimmerle 43-65 1/62 Girden 43--4 

1. A SUCTION GUN FOR TRAPPING SMALL AQUATIC LIFE, SAID GUN COMPRISING A FRONT BARREL HAVING AN OPEN FRONT END AND A FLAP VALVE AT ITS INNER END, A MULTI-CHAMBER ROTATABLE WHEEL HAVING A PLURALITY OF VANES SUBDIVIDING SAID WHEEL INTO A PLURALITY OF CHAMBERS AND HAVING MEANS FOR POSITIONING ONE CHAMBER AT A TIME IN LINE WITH SAID FLAP VALVE AND SAID BARREL, AND A PUMP CONNECTED TO SAID WHEEL AND HAVING AN OPENING IN LINE WITH SAID BARREL AND SAID FLAP VALVE, SAID PUMP HAVING A CYLINDER, A PISTON IN SAID CYLINDER, AN ELASTOMERIC MEMBER CONNECTED WITH ITS INNER END TO SAID PISTON AND WITH ITS OUTER END TO THE OUTER END OF SAID CYLINDER; MEANS FOR MOVING SAID PISTON INTO ITS INNER POSITION WITHIN SAID CYLINDER AND ADJACENT TO SAID WHEEL, AND A TRIGGER MECHANISM FOR HOLDING SAID PISTON IN SAID INNER POSITION, SAID TRIGGER MECHANISM HAVING A TRIGGER FOR RELEASING SAID TRIGGER MECHANISM AND SAID PISTON, WHEREUPON SAID ELASTOMERIC MEMBER PULLS SAID PISTON TO ITS OUTWARD POSITION IN SAID CYLINDER FOR CREATING SUCTION IN SAID BARREL, INTHE CHAMBER ALIGNED WITH SAID BARREL AND IN THAT PORTION OF THE CYLINDER WHICH IS ADJACENT TO SAID WHEEL, SAID SUCTION INDUCING SAID AQUATIC LIFT INTO THE ALIGNED CHAMBER THROUGH SAID FRONT BARREL. 